Penelope
Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, and the Queen of Ithaca. History Penelope was a daughter of King Icarius and Queen Periboea and the sister of Perileos, Thoas, Damasippus, Imeusimus, Aletes and Iphthime. She was married to Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. Soon after their marriage, she became the mother of their only son, Telemachus. Unfortunately, Telemachus was born shortly before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. Penelope became aware of a line of suitors in Ithaca, who would attempt to marry Penelope, something she was obliged to do, if Odysseus were to die. This began happening during the ten years after the Greeks defeated the Trojans, and Odysseus had not yet returned home after a number of weeks. Penelope however, waited another ten years for the final return of her husband, during which she devised various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108 suitors (led by Antinous and including Agelaus, Amphinomus, Ctessippus, Demoptolemus, Elatus, Euryades, Eurymachus and Peisandros). On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud, until Melantho, one of twelve unfaithful serving women, discovers her chicanery and reveals it to the suitors. When the disguised Odysseus returns, she announces in her long interview with the disguised hero that whoever can string Odysseus's rigid bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads may have her hand. There is debate as to whether Penelope is aware that Odysseus is behind the disguise. Penelope and the suitors know that Odysseus (were he in fact present) would easily surpass all in any test of masculine skill, so she may have intentionally started the contest as an opportunity for him to reveal his identity. On the other hand, because Odysseus seems to be the only person (perhaps excepting Telemachus) who can actually use the bow, she could just be further delaying her marriage to one of the suitors. When the contest of the bow begins, none of the suitors are able to string the bow, but Odysseus does, and wins the contest. Having done so, he proceeds to slaughter the suitors—beginning with Antinous whom he finds drinking from Odysseus' cup—with help from Telemachus, Athena and two servants, Eumaeus the swineherd and Philoetius the cowherd. Odysseus has now revealed himself in all his glory (with a little makeover by Athena); yet Penelope cannot believe that her husband has really returned—she fears that it is perhaps some god in disguise, as in the story of Alcmene—and tests him by ordering her servant Euryclea to move the bed in their bridal-chamber. Odysseus protests that this cannot be done since he made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs is a living olive tree. Penelope finally accepts that he truly is her husband, a moment that highlights their homophrosýnē (ὁμοφροσύνη, "like-mindedness"). Homer implies, that from then on, Odysseus would live a long and happy life together with Penelope and Telemachus, wisely ruling his kingdom and enjoying wide respect and much success. In some early sources such as Pindar, Pan's father is Apollo via Penelope. Herodotus (2.145), Cicero (ND 3.22.56), Apollodorus (7.38) and Hyginus (Fabulae 224) all make Hermes and Penelope his parents. Pausanias 8.12.5 records the story that Penelope had in fact been unfaithful to her husband, who banished her to Mantineia upon his return. Other sources (Duris of Samos; the Vergilian commentator Servius) report that Penelope slept with all 108 suitors in Odysseus' absence, and gave birth to Pan as a result.9 This myth reflects the folk etymology that equates Pan's name (Πάν) with the Greek word for "all" (πᾶν).14 Appearance Personality Penelope was very intelligent, able to keep hundreds of her suitors at bay in his long absence until she was reunited with him. She was welcoming and warm at heart and remained a faithful wife and mother. Category:Mortals Category:Descendants Category:Children of Icarius Category:Queens Category:Spartans